My fascination with these silky, beautifully pigmented new eye shadow palettes is a little weird given my tendency to skip shadow when I fix my face. But whatever. The new collection of Estee Lauder Pure Color Envy Sculpting EyeShadow 5-Color Palettes looked so compelling at a recent Lauder preview that I had to show them here. And my geeky side sees these 10 compacts as learning tools when it comes to building custom palettes.

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estee lauder pure color envy sculpting eyeshadow 5-color palettes

Inglot and Make Up For Ever have got my brain stuck on the build-your-own-palette concept (hence this advice from makeup pro Diana Carreiro on how to choose your best palette shades). But when I'm faced with a sea of colour options, I still get too overwhelmed to function. So I've decided to look at the new Estee Lauder Pure Color Envy Sculpting EyeShadow 5-Color Palettes as a learning exercise, a way to make Diana's tips stick in my brain. If you have the same anxiety in the face of DIY palettes, let's take a look at some of these Lauder combos and together conquer our beauty nerves. *grin*

breaking down the eye shadow palette

According to Diana Carreiro, a good eye shadow palette needs the following elements: 1) a neutral colour for the lid; 2) a darker, liner shade; 3) a medium shade in the same colour family for sculpting or contouring; and 4) an eye-popping shade or two for punch. But how does this play out in a "nude" compact? Like this: The long narrow matte ivory is obviously a highlight. The two shades on the top right, a shimmer and a matte, are neutrals for the lid, or sculpting shades if you use the lightest shade as a base. (Clever to include a medium shimmer; it adds interest with texture.) The darkest shade can serve as liner. And the eye-popping shade? It's that warm, coppery gold on the bottom right, with a metallic shine that makes it stand out. Yes?

In this colour combination, the eye-popping shimmering currant shade is also the liner. Gorgeous for green, hazel and blue eyes, and light brown eyes, too. Most of this palette seems shimmery; that pale pink looks like the only matte in the compact. My hazel eyes want me to try this.

You know, I'd use that shimmering brown on the bottom right as a liner too. Clockwise from the lightest shade, this arrangement seems to be highlighter, neutral lid, medium neutral lid, eye-popping shimmering medium brown, dark brown matte liner. Ivory Power is a great palette for blue-eyed beautygeeks, by the way.

Untamed Teal mixes things up a bit. The highlight is a soft matte warm white. The first medium sculpting shade is subtle satin; the second is metallic. The accent teal and chocolate brown are the same subtle satiny finish as the first medium shade.

The highlight shade in Provocative Petal is a shimmery white -- the eye-popping shadow, methinks. The pale, pale peachy pink is matte. The remaining shades, two mediums and a dark, have a subtle satiny sheen. (This palette is another no-brainer for blue-eyed beautygeeks.)

Of all the eye shadow shades in the world, blue has the worst, nearly insurmountable reputation. The 1970s are to blame for blue's bad rep. Yet this Infamous Sky palette is all kinds of textural fun that would look great on lighter blue eyes, on grey eyes and on brown.

The ivory highlight shade is matte. The first medium sculpting neutral is shimmery. The second medium sculpting neutral is a pretty pale blue-grey. Interesting. The eye-popping shade (a third sculpting neutral) is a taupe metallic. And the liner colour, that dark blue, is a subtle shimmer. You know, I bet this palette would look great on green or hazel eyes too, as long as that dark blue was part of the look.

Blue-eyed beautygeeks, this a palette you need for sexy drama and for parties. Actually, green-eyed, hazel-eyed and brown-eyed beautygeeks need it too. A shimmery sand highlight with three shimmery contour/sculpting shades come with a rich burgundy-chocolate shimmer for liner. I want to say the eye-popping shade is the upper-right corner yellow-gold. The shade on its left and the one below look quite similar; they look almost the same in the chart at the end of this post, too. *shrug*

I'ma say shimmering Fierce Safari would make hazel eyes look more golden. Okay, I'll have to try it myself to see if that's true. The accent or eye-popping shade is that mossy green, right? (Love.) And that deep chocolate would be the liner shade. You know, if I had put this combo together, it would look less interesting. I'd have swapped the ivory and pale gold positioning.

Blue-eyed, green-eyed and hazel-eyed beautygeeks, this is for you. The highlight shade is a shimmering ivory. The next pale shade is matte -- an alternate highlight? I'd use the shimmery medium sand and matte shade below it as contour, and the saffron as liner -- and the eye-popping shade. I might have to try this palette too. It's ideal for anyone who prefers subtle contouring or sculpting, with an occasional dramatic hit. That would be me.

Green eyes, hazel eyes, blue eyes and brown would look amazing with this palette. The set-up is easy to follow: creamy white shimmer as highlight, matte pink and shimmery silvery taupe as medium contouring shades, vivid shimmery violet as the eye-popping accent colour and a deep matte brown with a hint of purple as the liner shade. Easy.

You know, I didn't mean to get so detail-y about each palette. When I uploaded the photos I thought this would be a simple catalogue-style post: lots of pictures, few words. But going through each palette with Diana's build-your-ultimate-palette tips in mind really made me think about how I would use each compact, how I would apply each shade. In a way, it also demystified palettes I might have dismissed as too tricky for me. In fact, now I really want to wear at least one or two or three of them. Huh. Remember that time I said I rarely wear eye shadow?